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Ignacio Lillo
Malaga
Friday, 15 December 2023, 10:51
Rush hour chaos hugely impacted passengers on the Cercanías commuter train line between Malaga city and Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol this Friday, 15 December.
The failure of a piece of track equipment caused delays and the cancellation of some trains in the middle of the morning rush hour on the C1 line.
One passenger told SUR that "there was a problem on the track at Torremuelle (Benalmádena). They cleared everyone off the train heading towards Fuengirola at Arroyo de la Miel. They said that only one track was working. It was all very confusing".
Other passengers said they were being forced to get off at intermediate stops without prior warning and that there was a lack of information and a general feeling of "chaos".
At least three early morning trains were cancelled, and the estimated average delay on journey times was around ten minutes, according to sources.
The rail infrastructure operator Adif said that the failure at a track junction was detected yesterday afternoon, and it was expected to be repaired in the early hours of the morning. However, technicians reported that a motor used at the junction was faulty and it had not been possible to repair it during the night. This meant that it was only possible to run trains on single track, instead of the double track on this section.
Train operator Renfe has confirmed that since early in the morning there was an infrastructure breakdown near Benalmádena that forced the local trains to run on a single track. To alleviate this situation, Renfe established a timetable frequency of 40 minutes on the Malaga-Fuengirola route, in both directions, although the service was being provided normally.
In addition, the public operator said it had reinforced its customer service staff at the Benalmádena station and was informing passengers through public address systems, apps and other channels.
The situation was helped during the rush hour for those who had to use the car to get along the Costa del Sol this morning. A multiple collision involving at least six vehicles caused heavy traffic jams on the free stretch of the AP-7, near Fuengirola, between the Los Pacos and Torreblanca areas.
According to the information provided to SUR by the DGT's traffic management centre, the incident happened at 7.45 am and led to the closure of the left lane, causing a tailback of about six kilometres, towards Cadiz (kilometre 1011.02 to 1017.87). Apparently, there were no injuries reported although the traffic situation was described as "complicated" in the affected area.
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